


🌱 bloom

by meta_pan



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: F/F, Keith (Voltron)-centric, Keith/Lance Gardening AU, Keith/Lance High School AU, Keith/Lance Neighbours AU, Keith/Lance Roadtrip AU, Keith/Pidge/Kinkade Friendship, Keith/Pidge/Kinkade/Hunk Friendship, M/M, Oblivious Keith (Voltron), Pining Lance (Voltron), Slow Burn Keith/Lance (Voltron), broganes, keith lives with his grandparents and lance is the new boy in town, which is why shiro is referred to as takashi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-25
Updated: 2019-06-07
Packaged: 2020-02-15 19:46:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,136
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18676249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meta_pan/pseuds/meta_pan
Summary: Keith's life is complete and filled with love, thank you very much. He loves his grandparents and he loves his garden and he loves his friends.But all this neatly cultivated peace goes flying out the window when the new neighbours move in and along with them a certain blue-eyed and freckle-faced young man. Yet, Keith doesn't find it in him to complain one bit about those new developments.Gradually evolves from Gardening AU to High School/Neighbours AU to "let's go on this life-changing roadtrip together" AU.





	1. No Metaphor Is Perfect

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there won't be any japanese words in this fic apart from:  
> grandma => Baa-baa  
> grandpa => Jiji  
> older brother => Ani  
> just out of respect y'know (i do let keith get away with it when referring to takashi tho)
> 
> [keiths vinyl](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=j6TmogXhOZ8)

_Keith was 6 years old and it was March when he took a small spoon and stabbed it's handle into the potting soil surrounding the little sapling, nestled among dozens of others in the green plastic tray. He knew that he shouldn't take one from the center and he knew that he should be more careful but today he didn’t care. Because today had been the worst day ever._

_"So, what you're saying is... that you punched this kid because he wanted to befriend Ryan?", Takashi asked him while filling a plastic cup with dirt. Keith watched him use the handle of his own small spoon to carefully create a tunnel in the middle of the cup, just like Baa-baa had showed them, and put it next to the other cups that sat on their garden table._

_"No! He was mean to me. And to Pidge, too.", Keith corrected his brother. "And I don't know why Ryan wants to be his friend anyway. I don't like James." He handed Takashi the young plant and watched him gently place it into the cup before carefully closing the soil in around the tiny stalk. His older brother frowned like he always did when he tried to say all the right things._

_"Keith... I know it's hard when your friends make new friends. But you can't go around punching other kids." Keith opened his mouth to respond but, before he could put his growing frustration into words, Takashi quickly added on: "-even when they say mean things!"_

_Takashi was only four years older than him but still so much better at this friendship thing. Why couldn't he be more like him? Keith stared straight ahead and knew that he would be able to feel tears well up in his eyes any moment now. Right then, he felt a soft hand soothingly rub little circles onto his back as a third person joined in on their current conversation: "When you say that this kid said mean things, then I believe you and I am proud of you for standing up for yourself and for Katie, my love. But I do not want you to get into fights. That is not how we handle things, now is it?"_

_Keith felt his cheeks get warm and his eyes started to sting. He always did everything wrong._

_"Hey, it's alright. Come here.", his gradmother said as she pulled him into a warm embrace. He put his arms around her and felt the tears roll down his cheeks. After a moment, she put her hands on his trembling shoulders and told him to look at her. For a split-second he worried that she might be angry with him but when he looked at her she gave him a little smile and handed him a tissue for his running nose._

_"I'm not mad at you", she said softly, as if she had read his mind. And maybe she really had. "I just want you to understand that it is not good to solve problems with violence, do you understand that? I'm sure that James kid is very sad now. And his mother, too." Keith wanted to shrug his shoulders because he didn't care about James' mum being sad and even less about James. But he didn't shrug because he cared about Baa-baa and about Takashi and he knew that he definitely didn't want them to be any sadder._

_"Now tell me. Aside from him saying mean things... does it bother you that him and Ryan are friends now?", she asked knowingly. Keith slightly bit on his tongue. He hesitated on his answer until he had pulled two seedlings free from their bed made out of soil. He sighed and this time he did shrug his shoulders._

_"Keith, you are a school kid now", Takashi scolded him without any real heat behind his words. "You have to learn how to share. Your toys, your attention and also your friends." Keith poked around the tray with his little spoon as his grandmother agreed with his brother. He felt guilty and frustrated and sad and angry because he felt like he had made everyone else frustrated and sad and angry._

_"I just want Ryan and me to stay friends. And Pidge, too. Like it was in Kindergarten. Just the three of us. Without everything changing", he whispered._

_For a little while, everyone did their assigned job at repotting the plantlets in silence. Until his grandmother spoke up softly._

_"Keith, sometimes it's hard to say the right things. To do the right things. And especially to feel the right things. But you gotta understand that you can't force other people to be only your friend. Just like how you wouldn't want someone else to force you to be only their friend. Right?" Keith hesitantly nodded._

_"Let me ask you this, my dear. Do you love me?"_

_"Of course I love you, Baa-baa!", Keith exclaimed. What kind of question was that? But his grandmother just smiled at him fondly._

_"And I love you, too. Now, what about your Ani? Takashi? And what about your Jiji? Do you love your brother and my brother, too?" Keith didn't have to ponder on that question either. Jiji may technically be his greatuncle but to him he was like a grandpa and obviously he loved his brother and his grandpa!_

_"I love Takashi and Jiji, too", he stated with determination._

_"Very well. So back when you were in kindergarten, your friendgroup consisted of three people", she said and counted on her fingers. "Katie, Ryan and you. The number of your family members in this house was also three. Takashi, Jiji and me. But during last summer when my daughter moved in with us? And your aunt and cousin became part of our daily lifes; didn't that change a lot around here?"_

_Keith allowed himself to think about that for a second. Everyone had been very surprised when his aunt Hanako had made the decision to move in with them before Acxa started first grade. Suddenly, there had been two more people in the house and while his cousin was not really a loud kid, his aunt was the loudest adult he knew. She laughed loudly and threw her head back when she did so. Sometimes she snorted, too. She sang very loudly and not very well, while she prepared breakfast or when the people in a movie started to sing or when they got stuck in traffic. And when she stubbed her toe, she said a lot of bad words in her loud, loud voice while laughing it off._

_"Yes", he answered while handing Takashi another sapling and wondering where Baa-baa was going with this. "A lot changed." His grandmother nodded._

_"Does that make you love them any less, though? Do you wish that they hadn't moved in with us? Are you not glad that you let them into your life and your heart?" Keith put down his spoon and slowly looked up to his grandmother._

_"You tricked me, old woman", Keith said to her in his best cowboy voice and his grandmother laughed. Not unlike his aunt usually laughs._

_"An old woman? Where?", she said while exaggeratedly looking around their garden and now it was Takashi who couldn't help but snort. Maybe Baa-baa was right. Maybe change wasn't always something bad. But that didn't change the fact that Keith didn't like James and he doubted that he would 'let him into his heart' anytime soon. Into his life, though? As Ryan's friend? Maybe.  
_

_Everyone settled back into their dutiful routine of repotting when their grandmother spoke up again after a short while: "You know, Keith, people aren't too different from plants. They need love and care but you have to be careful as not to crush them." Takashi nodded as he wiped some sweat off of his brow under the unusually warm march sun._

_"In fact", his grandmother continued with added enthusiasm in her voice, "the warmth and love and attention that you give your loved ones are like the reassuring rays of sunshine. Very important but too much can be harmful." Keith hummed in agreement. The seedling he was freeing of his confinements right now had very long roots and he was careful not to rip them while pulling the plant out of the potting soil._

_"To make them feel secure and safe and potected we put the little plants into the soil where they receive their nutrients from. But what would happen if we pressed the soil onto the plants too firmly? Or put too many of them into one cup? We would leave them without any space to breathe! And the same applies to your friends and family members. Do you understand?" Keith and Takashi agreed as they continued with their work._

_After a little pause she remarked: "Oh and let's not forget the water. The essence of life. That we give to our plants just like we give our friends support and love and attention. But too much of it? And they would drown, which-"_

_"Wait", Takashi chimed in. "I thought the reassuring rays of sunshine stand for love and attention."_

_Their grandmother looked at him for a moment. "Okay okay, the metaphor isn't perfect. But do you understand what I am trying to say, Takashi?"_

_"I do. Treat your friends with respect and know that they have different needs. Just like every type of plant needs different amounts of water, sun and soil so that it can flourish. Like how cacti cannot handle too much water while mint sprouts can't get enough of it. In the same way, Matt for example doesn't like it when people are too honest because that can be hurtful. While Curtis counts on us to be as honest as possible to him." You could tell by the surprised look on her face that that explanation was even more than what she was getting at._

_"Yes, very good, Takashi", she said nevertheless. "Keith, what did you take away from my little comparison?"_

_"Easy", Keith said. "You don't want me to burn or bury or drown Ryan."_

 

——————————————————————

 

Keith woke up with a smile on his face. It’s just one of those days, he supposed as he stretched inside his warm bed. After returning from the bathroom, he looked through his little vinyl record selection that he had accumulated over the years and decided on the one of Ella that Hunk had gotten him for his 15th birthday. His grandma’s old record player wasn’t as impressive or big or fancy as the one they had in their living room and it acted up sometimes but it was his most prized possession. While he changed into work out clothes, he scrolled through the text messages that had come through during the night.

Apparently, Pidge had played their newest video game until 3 am, continuously updating him on their progress. Hunk had sent him a text at 4 am, which was filled with panic and spelling mistakes. Ryan’s text that informed him of having left for his morning run hadn’t arrived yet but given that it was almost 6 am, he should receive the message any minute now. Pidge would be asleep for another 2 hours but Hunk should be up already, Keith thought as he pressed the call button next to Hunk’s name. After the fourth ringing sound a very raspy voice picked up on the other line.

“.... good morning.”

“Good morning, Hunk. My bestest friend. How are we feeling today?”, Keith fondly asked his currently ill friend. He winced sympathetically as Hunk coughed up a storm and yawned before responding.

“Confused as to why you’re in such a good mood so early in the morning. Also, I’m still sick. Also also, you woke me up.”

“Oh shit sorry, I thought you’d be up for laundry already.”

Hunk lived together with his parents, his older brother, his sister in law and his two nephews plus his aunt and grandpa. With everyone being busy with school and work, they depended on each other to share the weight of the daily workload that came with such a big household. Hunk was an amazing cook and an even better mechanic and honestly there’s nothing he can’t do. But they needed someone to be responsible for doing laundry so he’s been on laundry duty since Keith knew him. That couldn’t be easy with nine people living in the house, ‘but everyone has gotta carry some of the responsibility’, Hunk would say. As a result, he got up pretty early in the morning to get two loads of laundry in and out of the machine before he headed to school.

“I got everything done in the evening so I thought I would sleep in for once, you know?”

“.... oops.”

Hunk laughed. “Nah, man. It’s alright, don’t worry.”

“So, about the messages you sent me at 4 am. I’m sorry that I didn’t hear my phone and couldn’t respond right away. Are you alright?”

“I sent you messages at 4 am? Hold up, I’ll put you on speaker.”

Keith did the same before he reopened his chat with Hunk and read out loud: “‘keef, are u alright? i saw u drownings! please sony be drowned and i love u si muxh so so sooopooo mych’ I mean, you have autocorrect on your phone, don’t you?”

“.... my autocorrect hates me, you know that.” Keith shrugged his shoulders and hummed in agreement. He did know that.

“Also, you haven’t called me Keef in so long. For a moment I thought we were in 7th grade again.”

Hunk groaned, Keith assumed, into his pillow. “I’m sorry, I barely remember texting this. But I am 87% sure that it was me who wrote this. Especially when you take the two rows of crying emojis and half the billion hearts into account.”

“So, you had a dream about me drowning?”

“Yes, now I remember it again. There was you and me and Ryan and for some reason Romelle? Super random. And I don’t know where Pidge was. Anyway, we were standing by a river. And you said you want to jump. And Romelle said that jumping in the river was the best thing she ever did. And then Ryan.... erm, he.. well, so I told you that the current was-“

“Wait. Hold up. Stop. Can you rewind that for a moment?”, Keith felt a grin creep into his face. “Ryan did what?”

“What?”

“Hunk.”

“...”

“Ryan did what?”

“...”

“Oh, that’s alright. You don’t have to tell me. But know that I’m imagining the most scandalous things right now. You dreaming of Ryan sweeping you off your feet in the most romantic ways. Where do the flowers in his hand suddenly come from? Is that a ring? Oh my god, he is asking you to marry him! He drops onto his knees- ... actually that’s even better! Forget the proposal. Ryan takes off his shirt and drops onto his knees and-“

Keith heard his phone give the telltale beeping sound of someone hanging up on him. He may look like the worst friend ever right now but when it came to Hunk, approaching a topic directly was the key - but he couldn’t just say “you like him” right out of the gate either. Trust him, he had tried. And if he had some fun while getting to the issue at hand then no one could blame him for that, now could they?

On his third attempt at sending Hunk a facetime invitation, his best friend finally picked up. The blush on his face hadn’t disappeared yet, though. “Are you done?”, Hunk deadpanned.

“I didn’t even say anything”, Keith said innocently. “....okay okay, I’m sorry. It’s just that you are so obviously crushing on him and someone has to say it! Pidge is minding their own business and Ryan is oblivious. But not me, oh no my dearest friend, not me. I see what’s going on and I am here to support you 100%.”

“You jumped and drowned. The end.”, Hunk responded, gracefully ignoring everything Keith had just said. But that’s exactly why he facetimed him this time around. If Keith weren’t so focused on finding the right words, he would be able to see his frown in the little screen showing him his own face.

“Hunk, I’m not saying this to make fun of you. I’m saying this because you are my best friend. And Ryan is, too. You obviously fancy each other and if you wanted to give it a shot, then I’d support you all the way. You know that, right? I’d just prefer it if you were honest to me about it because that would make everything easier. And I’m sorry for making stupid jokes.” Hunk said nothing and pointedly looked at a spot above his phone screen. “Do you still love me?”

Hunk’s eyes flitted around his room and he waited for Keith to say something else so that the question wouldn’t continue to hang in the air, demanding to be answered. But Keith patiently waited and Hunk sighed. “Yes, I still love you... and I’m sorry for not being open about this but it’s just... I’m scared. What if I did take his hand and we jumped into the river and it didn’t work out? The currents would separate us and maybe we wouldn’t find back to each other.”

“So that’s what happened? He offered you his hand?” Hunk blushed and nodded.

“That makes so much sense actually. Because your concerns sound exactly like what Romelle used to say before she and Allura got together. And from all of us, you’re the closest to Romelle so you witnessed it all first hand. Maybe your subconscious is trying to tell you that you can have what they have. That all it takes, is a leap of faith.”

“...did you just quote Into the Spider-verse?”

“....maybe.” 

“But wait, why would you jump into the river then? Does that mean that there’s someone that you want to be with?”, Hunk asked before reaching for a tissue for his stuffy nose. Keith didn’t point out how Hunk just casually mentioned that he wants to be with Ryan.

“I don’t know, man. It’s your subconscious, you tell me. Actually, how did the dream end? Did I really drown?”

“No, you didn’t”, Hunk smiled sheepishly and then shrugged. “Erm, I told you that the current would be too strong and you said that you’re not afraid because you’re not alone. I didn’t see anyone apart from the four of us, though.”

“So I wanted to jump into the waves. Alone. But wasn’t afraid because I wasn’t alone. And I said that while standing there alone?”

“Ugh, my headache is getting worse. Sorry, buddy, maybe I just drank too much cough syrup before I went to bed. Half of this doesn’t make any sense.” 

“Don’t worry, love”, Keith reassured him. “No metaphor is perfect.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> do you know that feeling when you think you’re having such a pedagogically worthwhile and wholesome moment with a kid and they just don’t give a fuck?  
> also, my keith may be a little shit but he grew up in a loving home and with the greatest friends ever so he is also casually being affectionate and unabashedly sweet.  
> also also, as the lovely hale pointed out, it's not as ooc when you think back to his talk with hunk in season 7; just with him being the one hugging hunk in the end because my keith grew up with hugs and kisses and so much love.  
> IT'S WHAT HE DESERVES.


	2. The Truth And Nothing But The Truth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> still establishing keith's social and family life  
> but don't worry, the McClain's are already packing their stuff up and will soon be on their way

_"Truth or Dare?", Hunk asked while scrunching up his nose. "I don't know."_

_Keith was almost 13 years old and it was October as he shot a sympathetic smile towards the newest addition to their little group of best friends. They would never refer to it as a ‘clique‘ because cliques suck (everyone knows that) and because those have a tendency to break up over some petty drama. No no, they were just a bunch of people who were all best friends with each other and therefore when they all befriended a new person and liked them a lot - they were automatically able to join them. This had never been the case though until last summer. Hunk was just too cool and nice to not befriend and ultimately include in their best friend group._

_"Oh, come on! This is our first party as middle schoolers! We can not NOT play Truth or Dare!", Allura answered enthusiastically while emptying the last drops of a cola bottle into Nadia's red plastic cup._

_"Yeah, new guy. Seriously, don't be such a-"_

_"Shut up, James. No one asked you for your opinion", Pidge interrupted him as they moved to stand between the two boys that were both at least a head taller._

_"Oh, isn't that cute. His little girlfriend is here to save the day."_

_Keith had already opened his mouth to give him a bit of his mind when James' attention was diverted by a hand being put down on his shoulder. Ryan merely said his name once._

_"Whatever." He rolled his eyes before he turned around and made his way to the other side of the circle of their classmates and friends settling down on the floor cross-legged._

_"So, everyone is in?", Allura asked and looked at everyone in the circle individually. "Of course, we won't force anyone to join the game. But once in, you gotta play."_

_Her eyes settled on Hunk a little longer than on anyone else. He had taken his place between Ryan and Pidge. Seeing their encouraging smiles, he took a deep breath and then gave a quick nod in the direction of their host._

_"Splendid!", Allura cheered and clapped her hands together. "Alright, here are the rules. Whoever the bottle lands on has to decide between 'Truth' and 'Dare'. There are no takebacks. But if more than half of the players decide that the question or dare is unfair in any way, you can request a new one. Then you do it and it's your turn spinning the bottle and asking the next player to choose. Everyone got that?"_

_Everyone nodded. Apart from-_

_"Of course we did, we aren't idiots."_

_"At least most of us aren't, James. I'm not too sure when it comes to you, though."_

_"Bite me, Katie."_

_"No, thanks."_

_"Guys." Granted, Ryan usually was on the quieter and more introverted side of things personality-wise, it was still very obvious that he looked less and less like he was enjoying the party. Keith felt sorry for his best friend. Surely, it wasn't easy to stand between your friends like he did. Which is why Hunk and Keith sincerely tried to avoid confrontation with James._

_But Pidge? No one doubted that they tried their best but their track record, when it came to colliding with James, significantly differed from the ones of their best friends. Pidge just couldn't help it. They simply didn't understand why they should bite their tongue while James just proudly exclaimed every single stupid and rude thought that crossed his mind at any time. Pidge did love their best friends more than they resented James though so they cast an apologetic smile to Ryan before turning their attention back to Allura right as she spun the bottle and started the game. The bottle spun around a few times and rolled away to the side after it had slowed down and stopped spinning. But not before it was obvious that it had clearly pointed at none other than James._

_Allura sweetly smiled at him but a little gleam twinkling in her eyes gave away how excited she was to dish out a real good question or dare. "Well, my dearest James. First one, how lucky you are! Now.... Truth or Dare?"_

_"Truth", James replied calmly._

_Allura tapped against her chin dramatically. She and Lotor had been Acxa’s best friends since first grade; years before Zethrid and Ezor joined their group in fourth grade. The three had always been just as close, as Keith was to Ryan and Pidge. With the difference that Keith didn’t spend the first years of elementary school gradually picking up a slight British accent. So, as Keith watched Allura hum in concentration, he couldn’t help but think about how much he loved her and how she had always been a good friend to him. And how he didn't buy this act of hers for even one second. Allura knew exactly what to ask James. Probably, what she would've asked anyone in the circle if the bottle had pointed at them._

_"Alright, the three of you always make such a big fuss about the name of your little clique but then never tell us what it means. Well, today's the day, I guess."_

_By the look on her face, one could tell that she was hoping that the answer to her harmless-sounding question would embarrass James at least a little bit. And it did. But he just straightened out his back and proudly pushed his chest out as he answered._

_"Not that it's any of your business. But MFE Squad stands for 'Marmora Football Elite'."_

_A few people quietly laughed._

_"Marmora... as in Marmora High School?", Allura asked, visibly confused._

_"Yes. We will all attend Marmora High and try out for the football team and crush that shit."_

_"And then people will refer to you as 'Football Elite'? That is the most pretentious bullshit I have ever heard", Lotor said condescendingly._

_"Oh, look who's talking. You find that pretentious, Posh Spice?"_

_"At least I don't call myself 'Elite', you git."_

_"Okay, okay. That was less exciting than I had hoped but at least that mystery is solved now. Spin the bottle, James", Allura chimed in before the situation got out of hand._

_Keith briefly wondered why James got invited to parties in the first place, if most people were annoyed by him anyway. But Allura seemed to like him well enough. James rolled his eyes and then shrugged off his annoyance, which was futilely trying to mask his embarrassment. The bottle spun and spun until it slowly began to lose momentum and finally came to a halt in front of a brightly smiling Ezor._

_"Ezor, Truth or Dare?" James asked in an almost bored tone of voice._

_"Truth", Ezor answered excitedly._

_"Who do you have a crush on?", James asked smiling with a fake-friendly smile and the circle erupted in giggles and people saying "ooohhh" like they were a bunch of 7th graders. Probably, because they literally were._

_Ezor blushed. "Do I have to say it?"_

_"Erm, yes? We've been trying to find out for weeks now but you wouldn't budge so now's the time to reveal the truth", Allura said and was clearly having too much fun with the power they were all wielding due to the game. Everyone loved it though, as they were all drama-hungry plus giddy because of all the sugary and caffeine-filled drinks they've had._

_"But... the person is sitting in this circle", Ezor admitted and her usual cheerful manner had been replaced by a timidness that Keith had never seen on his classmate before. And he could understand why. Keith took pity on her and the tricky situation she was in. He raised his hand._

_"I vote that she doesn't have to say it."_

_Ezor gave him a surprised look, Hunk looked relieved that someone had spoken up and Ryan just nodded. But Pidge, James and Zethrid looked at him like he had lost his mind. Allura seemed excited about this new development, though._

_"Ooohhhh, well then let's see how many people agree with Keith on his objection."_

_Most people wanted her to answer the question but about a third of the party guests also found it a bit too mean. Probably, because they knew that next round they could be asked the same question. Ezor took a deep breath but then something changed in her facial expression and she subtly looked around the circle. Keith realised that she was searching for someone. That she was about to lie. Keith tried to suppress his smile as to not give her away. Ezor had always been very smart and more than once he had witnessed her keeping up the image of well-behaved innocence and modest perfection while lying directly into their teacher's faces._

_"Alright", she sighed. "It's.... it's Ryan."_

_Keith looked at his best friend who looked slightly surprised but otherwise as calm as ever. But Keith was sure that the surprised look was just as much of an act as the current look of shyness on Ezor's face. Even if Ryan wasn't aware of the truth of the situation right now, she could explain it to him later and he wouldn't be bothered by having been chosen for her lie. She had made a good choice; Ryan didn't care about people making jokes about lovebirds and what not, there were constantly rumours going around about who was crushing on him and he was kind and trustworthy enough to keep Ezor's secret._

_When Keith looked at her, she smiled at him knowingly. He realised that if he were to lie about who he had a crush on, he would additionally make sure, if possible, to choose someone whose friends wouldn't mercilessly taunt them about it. Ezor knew what she was doing. He returned her smile. After the commotion, that had been caused by the public confession, had died down, Ezor spun the bottle and, for the second time that evening, it pointed in James' direction as it stopped spinning. And for the second time that evening, James chose Truth. Her smile was as innocent, her eyes as kind and her voice as soft as ever as she asked her question._

_"James. How jealous does it make you to know that you aren't the only person in this circle who has a crush on Ryan?"_

\-----------------------------

Keith lightly tapped his finger against Baa-baa’s bedroom door; loud enough to be heard when awake but not so loud that it could startle someone out of their sleep. He waited for a response and after he didn’t get one, he slowly opened the door and peeked inside. Baa-baa was peacefully sleeping in her bed. Sometimes, one could hear her snoring from the hallway but today that wasn’t the case. But he could see the tell-tale signs of breathing in the way her shoulder raised and fell and he carefully closed the door again. He had already checked up on Acxa and Jiji, and his aunt Hanako was at work so he quietly put his running shoes on, made sure that he had grabbed his keys and opened the front door.

Ryan stood at the end of their driveway, stretching one leg backwards and holding it there with a hand, while his other hand held his smartphone that he was currently smiling at. Now, it’s not like Ryan was never smiling or anything… but the way his eyes were all soft and his head was slightly tilted to the side, left no doubt in Keith as to who his best friend was texting with.

“Good morning”, Keith suppressed a grin and hugged his friend hello instead. Perhaps, one would assume that someone as introverted as Ryan would not appreciate hugs or physical touch in general but the truth was quite the opposite. Like every morning, Keith received a firm hug from his incredibly tall friend before they started up a slow jog. Blades of grass were shimmering with morning dew as they passed by meticulously groomed front lawns. The air was pleasant for late march and the sun was slowly rising.

“How did you sleep?”, Ryan asked the same way as he did every morning.

“Surprisingly, not bad actually”, Keith replied before they briefly left each other’s side in order to dodge out of the way of a young woman walking her dog. “Woke up at 1 am but after that I slept through the night.”

“That’s great.”  

Keith couldn’t help but smile. Ryan wasn’t a man of many words. Or just words in general. But he still found the right ones whenever it mattered. They were similar in that aspect; not terribly fond of being at the centre of attention but not afraid to speak up either. Especially compliments were something both of them used to struggle with. Until back in middle school Hunk explained to them how he did it and how it wasn’t about sucking up to someone.

_‘If you constantly find yourself thinking ‘oh man that is a cool T-shirt’ then why shouldn’t you just voice that? Thinking nice thoughts is a good thing. But saying them out loud is even better. There’s not a lot of magic to it.’_

But to Keith there was. And taking the mesmerized way Ryan had looked at Hunk into account, he definitely had thought that magic was involved, too. It was a similar situation when it came to accepting compliments. Probably something every teenager struggles with. One day during freshman year Allura grew tired of getting weird looks in response to complimenting Ryan’s eyebrows or Keith’s hands or Hunk’s brown eyes. She had swooped up one of Hunk’s delicious home made cupcakes.

_‘Ryan, if I, as your friend who cares about you, offered you this cupcake, would you throw it out of the window? No? Then why are you doing it with my compliments? Just accept the cupcake, Ryan. You don’t have to eat it but just accept it! It’ll do wonders for your self-confidence, trust me.’_

They rounded a corner. Keith felt a sudden warmth spread in his chest as he thought about how happy he was that he had such great friends. In fact, all morning he had been in such a happy mood and reflecting on how lucky he was. How blessed he was to have such amazing friends.

 _‘Don’t just think positive thoughts, voice them!!!!’_ , an inner voice, that sounded suspiciously a lot like Hunk, told him.

“Hey, Ryan?

“Hm?”

“Thanks for being my best friend. I love you, man.”

They came to a halt at a red light. Ryan looked at him with a questioning look. Keith just shrugged his shoulders.

“Voicing positive thoughts?”, Ryan asked and Keith laughed in response. “I love you, too.”

“I mean it. I don’t know what I’d do without you guys. I mean I love Hunk and sometimes I can hardly remember how life had been before we met him. But with you two, there literally was no life before we met.” After all, the three had literally celebrated every single one of their birthdays together since they were born. “You are my family.”

“Yeah”, Ryan agreed with a slight frown as the traffic light for pedestrians turned green and they started jogging again. “Family.”

 

 

Keith unlocked the front door and immediately knew that his aunt Hanako had returned home from work. No one else would make pancakes for breakfast on a week day apart from her. He took off his shoes and made his way over to the kitchen, where she was humming along to the radio.

“Keith! Good morning!”, she greeted him as she flicked the pan in her hand in a way that made the pancake flip – turning three times in the air because that’s how she flips pancakes. “How’s Ryan? How was your run?”

Keith looked around the kitchen. The table was set for five people with a couple of yellow Calla Lilies in a simple vase serving as a centre piece; Aunt Hanako must have picked them up on her way home. The eggshells and empty vanillin sugar packets had been disposed, the milk carton and flour package put back to their place. But Keith knew how to look under the surface. He didn’t miss out on the dark circles under her eyes. How the coffee in her mug was most definitely not her first cup of the day. How she slightly swayed from one foot to the other – not just to be in synch with the music. But to keep herself literally and metaphorically on her toes.

“Good morning, auntie. Ryan is well and the run was good”, Keith said and she shot him a million dollar smile. He slowly took the spatula out of her hand. “But what did we say about cooking after a night shift?”

“Oh, come on, Keith! Don’t be such a killjoy! You kids have to get ready for school. What’s the harm in me preparing you guys breakfast? And you know, no one’s pancakes can compete with mine!”

“I know and I appreciate it. But you really need to sleep.” Keith looked at the clock above the door. It was almost 6:45 a.m., he had enough time to put his over-exhausted aunt to bed and take over pancake duty before he takes a shower and heads to school. If only he wasn’t the only one awake. In exactly that moment, Acxa came through the kitchen door. She yawned and took in the picture: Keith in his workout clothes and her mum in her scrubs standing in the kitchen, holding onto the same spatula and about to argue about what their priority was: Auntie making a case for Keith’s shower and Keith asking her to please, please go to bed before she passes out.

So, to speak the truth, just a typical Friday morning.


End file.
